Out of this World: Wayland woman produces Museum of Science program

Like stargazers of old, Dani LeBlanc looks to the sky for wonders and mysteries beyond the reach of the naked eye.

Chris Bergeron/Daily News staff

Like stargazers of old, Dani LeBlanc looks to the sky for wonders and mysteries beyond the reach of the naked eye.

Part Galileo Galilei, part Princess Leia, she spent last year preparing to launch visitors to "a galaxy far, far away" from the Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science.

Starting Wednesday she'll send them off in search of exoplanets, newly discovered planets outside our solar system that may be habitable.

The Wayland resident produced "Undiscovered Worlds: The Search Beyond Our Sun," a 30-minute film that will inaugurate the official reopening of the planetarium, which underwent a $9 million transformation.

"Things are really taking off. Exoplanets are really a hot topic and an exploding field of astronomy right now," said LeBlanc. "From them, we can get our first clue of how common life is."

Also called extrasolar planets, exoplanets have been grabbing headlines this week like Lindsay Lohan on her way to rehab.

Last Wednesday, NASA's Kepler space telescope announced the discovery of five near Earth-sized planet candidates orbiting nearby stars.

Thought to be orbiting in what's known as a habitable zone, these planets - if confirmed - would be circling their sun at a distance where water, a crucial ingredient for life, could exist in liquid form.

Thought to exist in the 19th century, exoplanets weren't scientifically confirmed until 1995 when scientists determined that the planet called "51 Pegasi b," and unofficially nicknamed Bellerophon, was orbiting a sun-like star capable of supporting life.

However, scientists say, "51 Pegasi b" is far too close to its sun to be habitable.

Since then astronomers have confirmed about 520 exoplanets with another 1,235 candidates awaiting further analysis.

As created by LeBlanc's seven-member team, "Undiscovered Worlds" combines cutting-edge research, high technology and the imaginative creativity of close-knit colleagues, who in the past used to chill out by watching "Galaxy Quest" and "Star Wars" after hours in the planetarium.

LeBlanc credited the planetarium's seven-member team, which works under David Rabkin, Farinon director of Current Science and Technology.

Museum of Science President and Director Ioannis Miaoulis said LeBlanc possesses "the gift for sparking the imagination of people of all ages."

"Her knowledge and passion are evident in the inspiring shows she produces and presents about the universe and its big questions," he said.

Since exoplanets haven't been closely photographed, the team created the show with computerized animation programs "similar to animation production houses like Pixar" on site in Museum of Science offices. LeBlanc said animators Chuck Wilcox and Wade Sylvester created imaginary environments for exoplanets based on up-to-date research about their theorized gravity, chemical composition and likely weather.

"Exoplanets really lend themselves to the imagination with lots of room for artistic creativity," she said. "But we all still had to follow the rules of science."

To ensure the film's science accuracy, LeBlanc's team worked closely with four scientists deeply involved in the search for exoplanets. They included Professor David Charbonneau, of Harvard University, who was the first astronomer to detect exoplanets through the "transiting" of its parent star.

Three-time Emmy-nominated composer Sheldon Mirowitz recorded a 33-minute orchestral score with a 50-piece orchestra. The Sherborn resident, who teaches film scoring at Berklee College of Music, described the music as "big, beautiful and soaring."

"We're flying through the galaxy, even outside the galaxy. It's about our place in the cosmos," he said.

LeBlanc believes the revamped and improved planetarium will help visitors of all ages make exploring the universe their quest.

Opened in 1958, the planetarium has received a physical and technical facelift that has dramatically improved its capacity and flexibility to project the cosmos in the 209-seat theater.

Set in the planetarium's center, a $2 million Zeiss Starmaster "starball" uses fiber optics to project up to 9,100 stars on the domed ceiling.

A companion system, the Sky-Skan Definiti System, uses two Sony 4k digital projectors to simulate numerous scenarios from closeups of DNA to global climate change all the way to space travel past the 63 moons of Jupiter into other solar systems.

The stars must have been aligned just right when Danielle Khoury was growing up in Yorktown, N.Y.

In the third grade she made a model atom for science class. She recalled a little sheepishly, she won third place in her high school science fair by making, with help from her father, an electrical circuit that showed if any lights were left on in the house.

At Boston University, she majored in astronomy and physics and took courses in art and film that still help her at the museum.

After graduating from BU in 2000, she began working in the planetarium as an intern in 2000 and became full time shortly afterwards. She began coordinating show production in 2003 and took over as producer in 2010.

Some might say even her marriage was made in heaven.

The ring tone on her cellphone is "Moonlight Sonata." When she met her husband-to-be, Bruce LeBlanc, who now teaches junior high English in Hopkinton, he was managing the planetarium's laser shows.

When learning to manage the planetarium's complex new computer system, LeBlanc took a visiting tour group "to the edge of the universe and back."

On the way home, she sort of overshot the Earth before finally getting them all back to Earth.

"It takes a bit of practice to navigate through the galaxy," said LeBlanc. "We're still learning to fly."